Crucial Releases RealSSD C300 Firmware Fix, Bricks More Drives?
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 4, 2010 1:47 PM ESTBack in March I posted an update on my experiences with Crucial's RealSSD C300. In it I pointed out that not only had my review sample apparently bricked itself but I was also able to get the C300 into a state of extremely low performance (~20MB/s) that it could not get out of, even if I TRIMed the whole drive.
Crucial discovered the source of the problems and promised a fix in mid April. It's a bit later than that but we do finally have an update from Crucial. An updated fw has been posted to Crucial's site (Version 0002) and it promises the following fixes:
Change Log:
- Improved Power Consumption
- Improved TRIM performance
- Enabled the Drive Activity Pin (Pin 11)
- Improved Robustness due to unexpected power loss
- Improved data management to reduce maximum write latency
- Improved Performance of SSD as it fills up with data
- Improved Data Integrity
The update is destructive so you'll lose all of your data when you apply it. I haven't had the opportunity to test it thoroughly yet so if you're concerned, you may want to wait until others have used it. If you are a C300 owner, please feel free to leave your experiences with the update in the comments below.
Update: It seems as though the new firmware, designed to prevent drives from bricking, appears to be bricking drives. Hold off on this one guys.
I've also requested a 128GB C300 for review and I should see that in the coming days. I've got a ton of non-SSD stuff to deal with this week so I'm not sure I'll be able to get to all of it before I leave for Spain this weekend. If I can't get it done before I leave, I'll definitely tackle it all when I get back.
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turbodreams - Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - link
I bricked my C300 even though I exactly followed the instructions.There are more reports on the Crucical Forum:
http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD...
So, I would recommend everyone to NOT UPDATE THE FIRMWARE until there is a respone from Crucial!
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - link
Wow. That's horrible, updated!Lothsahn - Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - link
Anand--the "appears to be bricking drives" link doesn't actually link to the comment. In fact, if you're on the main anandtech page, it just reloads that page, giving no indication of where the link should go.Using Firefox 3.6.3, in case that matters.
The0ne - Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - link
Just simply WOW...was this even robustly tested prior to release?nsx241 - Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - link
Intel did this twice in the past with their updates, so this pretty much par for the course in terms of ssd firmware updates..Chloiber - Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - link
Allthough I do not agree with you and think that intel's problems were less severe (HDD password - who uses that?), I do agree that other controller manufacturers faced similar problems (Indilinx...).B3an - Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - link
I dont remember intel doing anything like this. As far as i remember a firmware update caused a problem only if you had a password set for the motherboards BIOS.B3an - Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - link
Ok it may have been a HDD password, not a motherboard password.And i have two C300's, never bothered to updated firmware, and they are working fine 24/7.
Also had two intel X25-M's, again no problems.
Had some problems with some OCZ Vertex's though but nothing severe.
nsx241 - Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - link
Oh, it was pretty bad ...http://communities.intel.com/thread/7693?tstart=0
IanJamesTi - Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - link
Thank you Anand!!!!I just posted on the older thread asking about this, few hours later you posted!!!!
I just received my C300s in the Mail yesterday, downloaded the firmware, burned the ISO... and was going to install this tonight.
HUGE THANK YOU for saving me from bricking my new drives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In retrospect, I think I may send these two back and opt for a pair of more tried and tested drives.